Vaccination Risks and Responsibilities

Parents are responsible for their child's health and well-being, including protecting them from vaccine-preventable diseases. If you choose not to vaccinate your child, it's important to understand the risks — and how to make it less likely that your child gets an infection or spreads disease to others.

Protecting your child

Infant and childhood vaccines prevent diseases that can be serious and even deadly. Measles can cause brain swelling, which can lead to brain damage or death. Mumps can cause permanent deafness. Meningitis can also lead to permanent deafness or brain damage. Polio can cause permanent paralysis. Any child can be exposed to these infections — while avoiding contact with sick people helps, infections like measles can also spread through the air, and your child may come into contact with people carrying germs even if they don't seem sick. There are no treatments or cures for diseases like measles, mumps and polio — the only proven way to protect your child is with vaccines.

Protecting others

Delaying or refusing some or all vaccines for your child puts his health and life at risk, and also risks the health of other people — particularly those with weakened immune systems from other diseases or medications, people with chronic conditions like lung, heart, liver or kidney disease or diabetes, newborn babies too young to be vaccinated against most diseases, and the elderly. Communities depend on high immunisation rates to keep vaccine-preventable diseases from spreading — the more parents who choose not to vaccinate, the greater the risk that infection will spread in the community.

If you choose not to fully vaccinate your child

• If your child is sick and you call or visit a health care provider, tell office staff and the doctor immediately that your child is not vaccinated (for some or all vaccines), so they can consider a vaccine-preventable disease and take precautions to stop it spreading to others.
• Always keep vaccine records accessible, so you can report exactly which vaccines your child has received, if any.

If a vaccine-preventable disease is active in your community

• Consider changing your mind and protecting your child with a vaccine — talk to your child's doctor or a public health clinic.
• Your child may be asked to stay away from school, child care or other organised activities until it's safe to return — be prepared to keep your child home for up to several weeks.
• Learn about the disease and how it spreads, though it may be impossible to avoid exposure entirely.
• Each disease is different — talk to your child's doctor about when your child is no longer at risk after a possible exposure.
• If you know your child has been exposed, learn what symptoms to watch for and get urgent medical care if they develop.
• Follow recommendations to separate your child from others, especially newborns, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems or chronic disease.

Tetanus: vaccination is the best protection

Tetanus (lockjaw) is a serious disease caused by germs found in the soil — there is no "community protection" against it, since it doesn't spread from child to child, so an unvaccinated child is directly at risk. Even a minor cut or wound with a tiny bit of soil in it can cause infection, and over 10% of people who get tetanus die, even with the best intensive care. Over half of those who get tetanus have no history of a major cut or injury, so if your child becomes sick, make sure the doctor knows right away that she's unvaccinated. If a child hasn't received at least 3 doses of tetanus vaccine and has a major cut or injury, she should be given a special blood product called tetanus immune globulin as soon as possible.

Travelling without vaccination

When travelling abroad, your family may be at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases not routinely vaccinated for at home. Vaccination rates are lower in many countries, meaning greater exposure risk, and if your child gets sick abroad she may not receive the same quality of medical care as at home. Consider vaccinating before travel to such countries — children with vaccine-preventable diseases may also be refused permission to travel by public transport.